Malicious emails pose risk to Penn State students, faculty and staff

Last updated on August 22, 2016 at 6:06PM

Currently, email messages that appear to come from such delivery services as FedEx are being sent to random Penn State students, faculty and staff members. The emails contain bogus information about a parcel delivery and include a malicious malware attachment (a .zip file), which, if opened, runs a malware known as ransomware on the computer being used.

Students, faculty and staff members who receive such a message should delete the email and not open the attachment, unless absolutely certain they know who the email is from.

Students, faculty and staff members who have already opened the email and clicked on the attachment, should turn off their computers to prevent the malicious code from spreading and take their computers to their local IT support desk at http://its.psu.edu/campus-service-locations.

Penn State information technology staff members are collaborating with the Office of Information Security to monitor the situation, and updated information will be provided as it becomes available.